Translation myths – myths about translation and translators

Below we have listed a number of common translation myths. Knowing them will probably make it easier to choose your service provider in the future.

Source: http://www.keelekoda.ee/est-tolkemuudid/

For a good translation, all you need is to know a foreign language

This is certainly one of the most common and harmful misconceptions about translation. A good command of one's native language and at least one foreign language is just one of the prerequisites for the profession of translator.

The work of a professional translator also requires linguistic education, mastery of translation techniques, extensive translation experience, and knowledge of the field being translated. In addition, it is necessary to know the cultural background of both the source and target languages. A professional translator must constantly keep up with the changes taking place in their working languages. It is no wonder that there are far fewer good translators than people who know several languages.

There is only one correct translation.

If you give ten professional translators the task of translating any text (even the same one), you will likely end up with ten different translation variants.

The question is not about literal, literal translation, but above all about conveying information, thought, and style. There can be several correct translations of the same text, and even more incorrect translations...

You can get started without professional translators

Of course, there are situations where you can do without a professional translation, but when it comes to the business world or the reputation of an organization, it is better to use the services of experts. This will avoid possible errors and misunderstandings and improve the quality of information exchange.

Moreover, and most importantly, it is a sign of your and your company's serious and respectful attitude towards clients and partners. You can represent yourself in court or have a friend cut your hair once they know how to use scissors, but most people still prefer to hire a lawyer or a professional hairdresser...

A translator translates as fast as a typist writes

In fact, written translation is a much more difficult and laborious process than it might seem at first glance. A professional translator typically produces 3-6 pages of good quality new translation text in an eight-hour workday – and that doesn’t include the editing work done by another colleague.

A translator does not simply mechanically translate every word according to a dictionary, but creates a text in another language while preserving the information, style, and meaning of the original text. In addition, the original text often contains errors, logical inconsistencies, or unclear points that become particularly apparent during the translation process and need to be corrected.

In this case, the translation is often even better than the original text. If a client is trying to save money on translation work and also wants to receive the translation quickly, they are actually trying to save on quality, which is unlikely to benefit their company or organization.

Technology will soon replace translators

At least in the near future, no computer or robot will be able to completely replace a translator. Modern translation programs, for example, do not perceive the context of individual words or the multiple meanings, let alone stylistic or pragmatic aspects. Sometimes it takes more time to perfect a machine translation than it does to translate a human translation from start to finish.

A good translator will translate at any price

A translator, like any other specialist, must be paid properly for their work. A professional translator sets a price for their work that covers all costs related to the work and also ensures that the translator is sufficiently developed to continue to provide high-quality translations.

While working, the translator must have time to research everything he or she doesn't already know. A low price usually means that the translator translates at typist speed, using a flight of fancy to fill in knowledge gaps.

It is an inverse relationship: the lower the price, the more the translator has to translate to make a living, and quality inevitably suffers. Translators who offer translations for a price that is clearly too low give the client a false impression of the relationship between quality and price and treat their profession with disrespect.

A good translator sits idly by and waits for your unexpected order to start translating it immediately.

Many translation agencies and bureaus advertise on their websites that they can start fulfilling translation orders immediately. Is this believable? Is it really conceivable that a professional translator whose translations are truly good is unemployed?

Again, a comparison with a good professional in any other profession, such as a hairdresser or dentist: there is always a queue for a good specialist, clients are willing to wait to receive good service, while an ordinary professional can be reached tomorrow or even today.

In a well-functioning translation agency, translators are constantly working. Since there is always a shortage of good translators rather than an excess, there is always a little more translation work than can be done. Also, really good freelance translators have long been sought out by translation agencies and translation agencies and are constantly employed.

There are translation agencies or bureaus that employ as many as 500 translators and can handle any language and subject matter quickly.

No translation company, even the largest, can afford to have translators who translate from all possible language combinations and across all possible subject areas. The translation industry simply doesn't work that way.

All full-service translation companies rely heavily on freelance translators. However, these translators may actually work for many different translation companies, so they are not necessarily employed by just one translation agency.

Often, freelance translators spend most of their time working full-time and translate in the evenings and nights to earn extra income. If they are a true professional in their field, they are sufficiently busy with their daily work and can translate when they have time, not when urgent work is required.

What distinguishes a reputable translation agency from a broker or intermediary who buys a translation from the cheapest bidder and then resells it at a hefty markup is the careful selection and vetting of freelance contract partners, as well as a team-based approach to each translation job, whether it involves translators-editors working in the office or specialists hired for the project.